Two Months

Two months ago today, I woke up after the best nights sleep I'd had in China. The night before I'd felt very nervous and when I woke up I just felt at peace.

Mark, Marsha, and I went to the office to meet Xin Tong Xue for the first time. As we were sitting in the office filling out papers, we saw a little girl walk by the door and then the orphanage director who had a hold of her hand pulled her back to the door opening and there she was--our beautiful little girl. All the Chinese women (there were four) in the room started telling her we were her mama and baba. Mark said in his very loud voice, "Hello and Wo ai ni (I love you)." Poor Xin Tong Xue started to cry, so I took her on my lap and started whispering to her. I know she didn't understand, but because she had started crying all the women kept chirping at her and I had no idea what they were saying. It was quite overwhelming to her and me. After a few minutes, she settled down and started to play with the toys we brought her. When we were finally done with that paperwork, we started to leave the office and Meah Ivy TongXue looked at me and grabbed my hand and we walked out together as mother and daughter. What a perfect day!

After two months, we have found that the little girl we thought was amazing then, is absolutely incredible. I'm not sure about adjustment issues, but she wants to be here and loves her new family. She tells us often, "I love you". She laughs all the time. She wants to learn and is all ready putting phrases together. She has moved up a level in Math class and we are so proud of her.

When we decided to adopt again, we had all ready decided to adopt a minor special needs child between the age of 2 to 4. When I saw Meah's picture, she was 7 years old and had a special need we knew nothing about, but there was just something about her I just couldn't forget. After looking at her picture for about two to three weeks, I showed her to Mark and he felt something too. We had several specialists check her file and tell us that she could lead a very happy, healthy live. We were happy to have their opinion, but had all ready decided to follow our hearts and take a leap of faith. I'm so glad we did, we have been Blessed beyond Measure!

The Weekend

Well, our week was pretty uneventful, but we had a great weekend. On Friday night, our church had a fall festival. The kids had a blast. There was a big blow-up slide, bean bag toss, rat (yuck) races, and lots more. They each won a toy at the bean bag toss. Meah, Isabel, and Jules picked a stuffed animal. Acel picked a little squishy ball. They were so excited to win and get to pick a prize.

On Saturday, I had a garage sale with Marsha and made a little extra cash, which is always nice. Then we made dinner saturday night at Marsha and Richard's house. The kids always have a good time there.

I'm sorry, but I just had to add this picture from the fall festival!

Date Night

Well, last year the LA Galaxy came to town to play the KC Wizards and my husband got me tickets for the match since I'm a Beckham fan! Anyway, Beckham was injured and didn't play. They thought he would come and support the team, but I think there was a family emergency and he didn't make the match.

This year, loving Mark again bought me tickets and on Saturday, he and I went to watch LA take on KC. Even though I'm a Beckham fan, I'm still a MO girl and was glad to see the Wizards win 2-0. We had a great time at the match, !

After the match, we had a free night's stay at the Westin, so we decided to stay down there, since the kids were with Aunt Marsha. After we got back from the match, Mark checked us in and then we went to the plaza to go eat. We decided to eat at O'Dowd's Irish Pub. The food was great. Once we got back to the Westin, we saw all of these people in the lobby with Raider's jerseys--YUCK! Anyway, we found out the team was staying at the Westin and everyone was waiting for them to get back. This morning we saw their buses when we went to eat breakfast. Then when we were leaving, we happened to get into the elevator with two of the Raider's players. We're really not sure which ones, but we did see what looked like a playbook in one of their bags!

The kids of course had a great time with Aunt Marsha, building forts and making monkey bread and we got a moment away--Thanks Aunt Marsha.

I also wanted to slip in a picture of my sweet little ballet girls getting ready to leave for jazz/ballet class. They are in the same class and I'm not sure how their doing, but they sure look cute!

Relaxing Weekend

Well, I spent last night trying to get caught up on my blog, but didn't have time to talk about our weekend. After a informative and very good session at Children's Mercy Hospital, I was still a little stressed out, so the kids and I left town to go stay with my mom and dad.

All the kids have a great time. Everyone is so relaxed in the country. We also got to see my sister (A.K.A. Aunt Annie) and my niece, Magie.

While we were there, the kids got to see the neighbor make cider from Grandpa's apples. We also had time to visit with good friends, and watch Magie play soccer. Her team didn't win, but played awesome! Way to go, Magie!

School Days

I had posted a picture of Acel's First Day of School on the Journey to Me site, but I did not get pictures posted of anyone elses first days. So here is Meah, Isabel, and Julien's first day of school pictures.

Meah started 2nd grade and is doing awesome! She is all ready sounding out words. She loves going to school and is working so hard to learn.

Isabel is in a Pre-Kindergarten class. She was so excited to return to school. She goes three days a week. Julien started school one day before Isabel and when he came home, the two of them were sitting at the table eating lunch and he said, "Isabel, I missed you so much when I was at school." and she so lovingly said, "Well, Julien...I'm sure you did!" Never a dull moment at our house.

Julien started pre-school and he loves going to school. He says, "I don't learn anything, I dis play" Since he told me he was cutting out green circles today, I would guess they do more than just play. If you know Julien, that is what you would expect him to say.

For me, I'm glad to be getting into a routine with them, but dropping kids off at three different schools everyday is crazy, but for now it is what's best!

At the Lake

On Labor Day, we went to the park with Mark's family for breakfast. This used to be something they did with extended family when they were growing up. I remember having breakfast in the park a couple of times when Mark's dad was alive. This is the first time we've done breakfast in the park since we've had kids. The kids had a lot of fun and we're hoping to do it again soon, although we're hoping the food cooks FASTER!

Family Photos